Harry Potter!

Cheerio all!
To start this off, we've gotta start with a classic: Hilarious!
Okay - I'm super sad that I missed Wednesday's class... I'm pretty much OBSESSED with Harry Potter (my future husband... kind of - except for the fact that he ends up marrying Ginny, and my name isn't Ginny).

OK. ANYWAYS. I really enjoyed reading the article written about Harry Potter and seeing the good that it's doing in the world (not just my own). Children should be provided where they are allowed to act/write out their fantasies and build on each other's fantasies, like the Daily Prophet provides for them. Especially in the day and age that we live in today - every minute of a child's free time is scheduled with something - sports, ballet, music lessons - all to become better rounded for entering college. Kids as young as 5 years old are subjected to a highly structure life where free-time is looked upon harshly. Every minute must be scheduled, otherwise, "idle time is the devil's worship." C'mon parents, don't you remember when you were kids? How often did you fantasize about the world - how often did you just get to go out and play FOR FUN a game of soccer or tag or just pass the ball around? Today, it's all about the organized sports and everything is ORGANIZED, COMPARTMENTALIZED. But that's getting off topic - point of the matter is, what Heather is accomplishing is the return of imagination and creativity. Creativity is defined here as building your own idea off of some pre-existing idea. The fact that she is so incredibly young and writes as if she were a professional speaks volumes about what Harry Potter has done for her and her literacy. She was HOME SCHOOLED and away from all the competitiveness that unfortunately exists in public schools (even middle school). [Interesting side note - I'm currently sitting at the library and the table next to me spontaneously started talking about Harry Potter].

However, I think it is extremely unfortunate that there are such negative religious publicity regarding Harry Potter from Religious FANATICS. We always hear about the crazies in the Middle East who are allegedly going to attack us at any moment, yet we fail to realize the crazies that exist here already - the OTHER religious fanatics. [I apologize if i am coming off anti-muslim, or anti-christian or anti-anything... that is NOT my intention. I have the deepest and utmost respect for all religions and pathways to God. As a Sikh, especially, I cannot judge others or criticize others' religions - for they are all just different paths towards the same creator. There is no such thing as a MUSLIM GOD or a JEWISH GOD or a CHRISTIAN GOD or a SIKH GOD. ONE GOD - many different names.] What about the religious institutions who condemn CHILDREN'S BOOKS, like harry potter, because it contains the word sorcerer or wizard?! Is this NOT crazy talk? Surely JK ROWLING isn't advocating Devil-worship! If she were, wouldn't voldemort be the one we all look up to and idolize for killing harry's parents? Clearly, something is wrong when a simple story gets warped into something that it is CLEARLY not - dangerous. I refuse to believe that people who read Harry Potter will eventually be the next School shooters - like Columbine - that is just plain ABSURD! If this were the case, we'd all be dead RIGHT NOW. Sometimes, i wonder how much logical sense people have when they make such broad and sweeping proclamations. This is analogous to "ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS" or "ALL BLACK MEN ARE RAPISTS" [which, i hope by now, we all know is false]. I mean, c'mon SOCIETY. When are we going to learn to laugh and enjoy the world and stop being so narrow minded and insecure?

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO WITH HARRY POTTER? Probably congratulate him on being a good person. Additionally, i don't know if the radicals caught on - but HARRY POTTER CELEBRATES CHRISTMAS.

HARRY POTTER CHRISTMAS SONG

and with that, i bid you adieu.